Marc Wilczak | Experience Design Leadership

Driven by curiosity and a passion for innovation.

I’m Marc but everyone calls me will-zee.

I’m a seasoned Product Design leader with over 20 years of experience solving complex problems in physical and digital spaces across a wide range of industries. I’m driven by curiosity and passionate about bringing innovative solutions to user problems while maintaining business objectives.

For the past 3 years I’ve been helping AT&T and DIRECTV innovate their traditional satellite product, improve streaming and mobile experiences, and release innovative new physical products to market. Whew, it’s been a busy few years!

As a leader in product design and strategy, I have acquired 6 patents in 3 countries and have led teams of designers, content writers, motion designers and developers to bring numerous successful products to market. I believe in continual growth in myself and those around me, empowering people to do their very best work and grow their careers.

Unfortunately, due to confidentiality agreements, I can't share specific project details but there is a good chance you’ve experienced my work.

Process

Discovery Sessions

My teams have conversations with stakeholders and cross functional partners, leading workshops to extract knowledge about the company, product and users. We use these key insights to identify commonalities and distinctions, making informed decisions about possible user experiences.

We spend time learning about competitor and parallel industries in order to gain qualitative and quantitative information, comparing with current products and trends.

Persona Building Exercise
I like to make executives draw… and they have fun! One of my favorite exercises at project kickoffs is to break into small groups and begin creating a narrative that helps establish why possible solutions will be relevant to user needs. Working within a time box, each group begins to create a user persona. One team works on the past user, another on the current user and a third on what they think is the future user of their product.

Each group works together to discuss and write down their details.

Overview or demographic of who the user is.
Back story to define the users traits, behaviors and challenges.
User needs to resolve these challenges.
What would exceed their users’ needs.

Then… they draw what this user looks like and present to the whole team.

It’s fun, people laugh a lot, it promotes teamwork, and this simple exercise creates empathy for the users who we are designing the product for.

Process

Understanding the User

Our research teams interview a lot of users. We learn about people and how they use products from all over the world by spending time with them, asking questions and observing their behaviors. We use this information, to map journeys, create storyboards and develop accurate user personas. These personas are the go-to documents which ensure every design decision is aligned with the intended user.

A Case for Storyboards & Journey Maps
I like to use storyboards and journey maps to visually predict and explore a users’ experience. They help the team understand the flow of a users’ interaction with a product over time, showcasing a clear sense of what’s really important. Visualizing an experience often helps uncover simple resolutions to seemingly complex problems.

Process

Detailed Documentation

One of the hardest things for designers to do is to switch from empathy and story telling to clinical documentation. Designer who work with me quickly become adept at working within existing documentation styles as well as crafting their own to create a single source of living truth about how a product works. Annotated wireframes, user flows, conditional logic, animated prototypes and necessary assets are compiled into detailed specifications documentation. Design teams support and continue to work with engineering partners to produce seamless experiences and product launches.

Collaboration is Key
It’s often my job to get designers, engineers and stakeholders working together throughout the project. I feel it’s important to include non-designers in discovery workshops, ideation sessions and wireframe reviews to see solutions from a different perspective. When we all trust one another and work together, we can accomplish amazing things.

Case Studies

Beautiful + Engaging Digital Products

My teams design products that people enjoy using. I believe that good design anticipates a users’ needs and informs their actions without being obtrusive. With a strong foundation in visual and interaction design, I tie it all together by crafting visually delightful experiences no matter the platform.